Eastlake police warn of IRS scam

By
Andrew Cass, The News-Herald

Sunday, May 14, 2017

Eastlake police said several residents have reported they’ve received calls from people posing as IRS agents.

“This scam seems to reappear every year shortly after federal, state, and local taxes are due,” the department said in a Facebook post. “Please do not share any banking or credit card account information over the phone with anyone.”

“The IRS reminds people that they can know pretty easily when a supposed IRS caller is a fake,” the website reads.

The agency said scammers do these five things that it would never do:

• Call to demand immediate payment, also the IRS would not call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill.

• Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.

• Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.

• Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.

• Threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.

If you get a call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and asking for money, the IRS says to do the following:

• If you know you owe taxes or think you might owe, call the IRS at 800-829-1040. The IRS workers can help you with a payment issue.

• If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to believe that you do, report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) at 800-366=4484 or at www.tigta.gov.

• You can file a complaint using the FTC Complaint Assistant; choose “Scams and Rip-Offs” and then “Impostor Scams.”

“Remember, too, the IRS does not use unsolicited email, text messages or any social media to discuss your personal tax issue,” the agency states on its website. “For more information on reporting tax scams, go to www.irs.gov and type “scam” in the search box.”